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WASHINGTON—The U.S. House of Representatives passed its version of S. 772, the AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act of 2017, with a small amendment that requires grant funds to be used to integrate tribal Amber Alert systems with state systems for better communication. The amendment also changed the authorization from 2018 to 2019.

The bill will be sent back to the Senate to vote on the House version of the Amber Alert in Indian Country Bill. When the Senate passes this bill, it will be signed into law as long as the Senate has no further amendments.

“We pushed for passage on the House side, and we will continue to push for passage on the Senate side,” President Begaye said.

Sponsored by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), S. 772 amends the PROTECT Act reauthorizing the AMBER Alert program for fiscal 2018. The bill modifies the program to make Tribes eligible for AMBER Alert grants, permits the use of grant funding to integrate state or regional AMBER Alert communication plans with Tribes and allows the waiver of the matching fund’s requirement for grants awarded to Tribes.